A blog designed to facilitate communication about education, teaching, schools, labor issues, social justice, politics and ordinary life. Statements or expressions of opinions herein 'do not' represent the views or official positions of DCPS, American Federation of Teachers, Washington Teachers' Union or its members. Views are my own. Anyone who claims otherwise is violating the spirit and purpose of this blog.

6 Pages

Nov 8, 2009

Rhee Supporters Hate On DC Teachers

I thought I would feature a comment by someone who calls herself Sonya. I doubt if that's her real name. Sonya, like Rhee continues to bash DC teachers at every turn. Although Rhee has taken her public bashing of DCPS employees on the road, this local hater spews her venom with a vengeance right here on The Washington Teacher blog. Her words remind me of Jill Scott's song " Hate On Me Hater."

"I could give you the world on a silver platter, Would it even matter ? You'd still be mad at me. If I could find in all this a dozen roses which I would give to you, you'd still be miserable. In reality I'm gon' be who I be and I don't feel no faults. For all the lies you bought You can try as you may, break me down when I say that it ain't up to you, gonna do what you do.You cannot hate on me 'cause my mind is free. Hate on me hater ....."

This is what Sonya the hater had to say:

"Just goes to show you how sh---- some of these teachers are. The moron commenters on this blog can't spell, punctuate, write a complete sentence, etc. I wholeheartedly stand behind Rhee. These damn unions reward the lazy and promote the incompetent. I'm usually pro-union, but this is ridiculous! I'm glad she's shaking things up and lighting a fire under some of your asses. I can't believe you people think she should have cut funding for more educational programming over the summers over saving your jobs. Hello, does that not illustrate something for you? The system has been failing for years. Whose fault do you idiots think that is? Time for change. Good riddance to you all. Oh, and good luck with Oprah."

22 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I seriously doubt that "Sonya" is a classroom teacher. I find that almost everyone who's got crap to say about teachers has either never taught or has been chased out of the classroom, and one of those was probably the case with Sonya. Therefore, nothing she says is worth taking to heart.

Comments like these are toxic and counter productive. They only serve to get us off track and not focus on the real issues . I encourage everyone to write to Senator Akaka, and Senator Voinovich who are in charge of the US subcommittee on government management as well as your local senators and Oprah to bring attention to the mismanagement of public education in DC.

This comment from Sonya sounds a lot like crazy Mary Sidhall who is a parent from Ross who testified before the DC City Council. Just hit the D button for delete when she comes a calling. Let's make sure she finds another blog to espouse her hatred.

I was looking at the DCPS website and re-reading the 5 Year Plan, especially in the area of teachers. I wanted to see if the troubling words about DC teachers were still there or had been removed. I call your attention to page 26 of the plan under the heading Remove Poor Performers. It reads, "As a result, the overall quality of our teaching corps is unacceptably low. But we also must face an uncomfortable reality: too many of our teachers are not up to the demanding job of educating our youth effectively. We therefore plan to identify and transition out a significant share of the teaching corps in the next two years." This is the origin of the RIF. This is where IMPACT came from and where other tactics and measures of which we're currently unaware but are certainly in the making, will undoubtably emerge. We are not the teachers MR wants but are the teachers she's inherited.

Old School DCPS: I have been commenting on this since Rhee came up with a 5 year plan - after she was questioned by the GAO on why she didn't have one. Eighteen months into her administration she came up with a draft plan and the section re poor performers has been in there ever since.

No credible school system seeks to rid itself of HQ and certified teachers like Rhee has done without putting in place the necessary supports and appropriate professional development for those deemed to be low performers. If you recall over 1 year ago- Rhee offered buy-outs with as little as $1,000 to teachers from closing and restructured schools to get them to leave our school system.

While Rhee reports all over the US that there are gains in our standardized test scores, it begs the question who raised the test scores ? It certainly wasn't Rhee. It's amazing that Rhee continues to suggest that most teachers are ineffective. I guess she would know since Rhee was an ineffective teacher by her own admission in her short run as a teacher.

Certainly Rhee's logic is flawed and makes one wonder if teachers are so ineffective and cheating is suspected - then why hasn't Rhee called for an investigation of DCPS standardized test gains ? Certainly the erasure study suggests that there are problems in some schools.

You know when I first read the comment, my first response was anger and I was ready to post a comment shooting venom. But as I have read the comments of others in response I must agree with them all.Let's ignore the ignorance!!

The gains I really put the most credence in are the recent NAEP scores. The NAEP test is not administered by DCPS nor stored in some backroom near the principal's office. The NAEP gains, as a lot of DC CAS gains, were real, and the result of hard work and good teaching of current DCPS teachers. We cannot diminish those victories that belong to our students and to us, competent, professional DCPS educators.

"I can't believe you people think she should have cut funding for more educational programming over the summers over saving your jobs."

Hmmm, what this sentence certainly illustrates is a lack of command of standard English. As a teacher I would know where to begin to help Sonya correct her sentence; as far as correcting her personality, I wouldn't know where to begin. Our city is filled with a lot of know-nothings - people who have no experience, no real educated basis for their opinions but a lot of determination to force their ignorance on others.

First of all, "Sonya" should not be using the phrase "you people." That's just rude and racist. I hardly doubt a minority would use that phrase. Second, if Rhee was so good she wouldn't need to pay or beg parents to blog for her. It seems like there's a lot of bashing coming out of Ross, Capital Hill Cluster and Hardy Middle School parents.

I encourage us to write intelligent, well-written letters to the entire Senate subcommittee and members of the House committees on education and labor. We also need to bombard Eleanor Holmes Norton so that she cannot say she did not know. We also need to write Rahm Emmanuel, the NAACP, Urban League, Rainbow Coalition, Nation of Islam, Michael Moore the film maker who exposes folk and members of the clergy in DC. We need to wage the same kind of war. PLEASE BELIEVE: just as Rhee has supporters, so does the truth. It's on!!

Last plea but please file EEOC claims if you were riffed. We need to have data that Rhee and Fenty cannot manipulate.

I don't think that anyone would argue that the DCPS school system has needed assistance for a long time. However you can not bully, and fire your way to a better system.

As a teacher in DCPS for ten years lets look at the other elements that are missing in our system. Resources, support, supplies, parental involvement, community involvement. I could go on and on. My school was supposed to be a school of techonology yet we didn't even have the internet in our classrooms until this year. I had 5 computers for all my students, one LCD projector to share with 5 other teachers and not enough text books for all my students. I was spending about 150.00 of my paycheck every pay period on basic supplies like paper and pens. So before we start pointing the finger at just teachers lets look at successful school systems and see if they have to put up with such conditions.

At PTA meetings we only have about 6 parents show up, and when we have confrences I see barely 10 percent of my parents.

I can only speak for myeself but there is a lot of blame to go around and I really wish people would stop buying the media spin that Rhee got rid of low performing teachers. Because as a RIF'd teacher I can tell you that in my school there are teachers that are not certified, and have low evaluations that are still in the classroom.

To anon who contacted Michael Moore - also refer him to the "thatsrightnate" blog at http://thatsrightnate.com/2009/10/21/michelle-rhee-and-the-washington-education-miracle-part-i/#comment-6233

Nate did a 4 part series on "the Rhee educational miracle" Keep in mind that it's a satire. He's spoofing Rhee. But he has a lot of important facts there, including info about the RIF. By the last installment, he drops the satirical approach, saying, "some things are quite difficult to joke about–the future of our children is one of them."

I do not think Sonya is Mary Siddall, who is so much more than a Ross parent.

True, Mary still has one child at Ross but when her son's 5th grade homeroom teacher was RIF'ed on October 2, Mary took her child out of Ross and put him in Washington Latin that same week. So did a couple of other parents who would not let any parent comment anything against principal Alexander.Bear in mind that Mary Siddall is the founder of AMERICA'S FUTURE FOUNDATION, worked as program manager at the HERITAGE FOUNDATION (both far right organizations funded by Republicans) and is now serving on the board of the very pro-Rhee, DC REFORM NOW.

Maybe she believes in what she is saying but how many parents can afford working from home and having full time tutoring for their children so that they can attend public schools that consider drilling to exam questions good teaching?

For everyone that's asking to bring Moore into the fray, just think what a cinema spectacle the current union would provide. For the ranting and raving that occurs on these blogs, there is no real leadership representing the teachers. Watching Parker in a press conference does more to harm dc schools than Rhee's bulldozer.

My Dad named me Candi with an i. Thank God for him ;--) Otherwise you'd be calling me Markie. What was my Mom thinking? Luv her anyway. My parents Lish (like delicious) & Clif. Gram, Pap, Mommie Ella & Bush. My grandparents had a profound influence & impact on my life. I miss & love them immensely. If my parents hadn't been my parents I would have wanted them to be my friends. They are such "cool" people. At the very least they would both be on my party invitation list if we weren't related.
I'm thankful for the love of my family. Because of the love & support of my family & favor from God, I was destined for really great things.